Posted on 8-1-2002
GM
Ethanol-Powered Pickups
Source: GreenBiz.com
DETROIT, December 31, 2001 – General Motors Corp. USA has announced
that
its next incarnations of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra
will roll
out with the option to run on ethanol fuel. According to GM,
this offering
means it is the only automaker to have a full-size E85 pickup
in its fleet.
Vehicle production is expected to begin in early 2002.
E85, which is a renewable fuel made from starch crops such as
corn, helps
reduce air pollution and dependence on oil. In addition, E85
vehicles meet
U.S. Department of Energy mandates for alternative fuel vehicles.
GM notes
that the E85 Silverado and Sierra join GM's E85- compatible
truck lineup:
the Chevy S-10 and GMC Sonoma compact pickups, the Chevy Tahoe
and
Suburban, and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL sport-utility vehicles.
GM says the
E85 compatibility feature will be offered as a special equipment
option on
select 1500 series Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras equipped
with the
5300 Vortec engine.
Ethanol is domestically produced from agricultural products,
so the supply
of ethanol is virtually unlimited. Brazil has been running domestically
manufactured Volswagon beetles on ethan from its massive sugar
cane crop,
for thirty years.
The use of ethanol can help reduce overseas oil imports. In
the USA ethanol
is made primarily from corn, but in the future it could also
be produced
using waste wood, sawdust or grasses, or any cellulose containing
materials. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies have
shown that
high-blend ethanol fuels can reduce harmful exhaust emissions
by more than
50 percent. There are thousands of E85 vehicles on the roads
in America,
logging millions of miles every year. E85 vehicles are flexible-fuel
vehicles, meaning they will run on whatever is in the tank,
from 100
percent gasoline to 85 percent ethanol. They run best on E85.
Tom Stephens,
GM vice president of vehicle integration engineering, said,
"Using E85
makes sense because it is a renewable transportation fuel. Although
GM's
E85 compatible vehicles can use gasoline, we want to encourage
the use of
E85 whenever possible." Currently, the Chevrolet S-10 and GMC
Sonoma
4-cylinder pickup trucks are GM's E85-compatible vehicles.
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